The present invention relates in general to wireless communication networks and particularly to service levels within the communication networks. More particularly, the present invention relates to measuring and providing specific levels of service within a wireless network.
A Quality of Service (QoS) level (plane) is derived from requirements by communications applications and generally has very specific guidelines in wireline and Asynchronous Transfer Mode network systems. Traditionally, applications that require a certain level of service are contracted for by a customer with a telecommunications operator. The requirements are set out with pre-defined values capable of being measured and provided by the operator. Typically, the requirements relate to availability of bandwidth, delay, error rate, priority, exclusivity, etc. QoS architectures are used to provide mechanisms and procedures to measure and provide specific QoS services.
Acronyms and abbreviations that may be frequently used throughout this disclosure are defined below.
ARQ Automatic Retransmission reQuest, a standard method for checking transmitted data
BS Base Station
BTS Base Transceiver Station
CDMA Code Division Multiple Access, a term descriptive of a wireless air interface utilizing Code Division Multiple Access technology
CON_REF A unique 8-bit variable assigned by the base station for each service option connection
End-to-End delay is the delay experienced by service traffic
LAC Link Access Controlxe2x80x94utilizes a protocol for data link-level transmission control; the upper sub-layer of
IEEE Layer 2 (OSI) protocol that complements the MAC protocol
MAC Medium Access Controlxe2x80x94lower sub-layer of IEEE Layer 2 (OSI) protocol that supports topology-dependent functions and uses the services of the physical layer to provide services to LAC
MS Mobile Station
QoS Quality of Servicexe2x80x94a set of requirements and related performance parameters that characterize communications traffic over a given connection
RLP Radio Link Protocol
sr_id Service Reference IDxe2x80x94an identifier contained in a Service Instance Table for associating a service with the proper LAC/MAC class
QoS is relatively easy to define in digital circuits and QoS with respect to ATM standards are defined as Class 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4. Class 0 is a best effort service; Class 1 is equivalent to a digital private line and specifies a connection-oriented Constant Bit Rate (CBR) time dependent traffic such as uncompressed video; Class 2 specifies a delay dependent connection-oriented class for Variable Bit Rate (VBR) traffic such as compressed voice and video; Class 3 specifies a VBR delay-tolerant data connection such as packet and Frame Relay traffic; and Class 4 specifies connectionless data transfer such as signaling and control, and network management data.
QoS in the wireline world is provided on the Internet (a packet based system) utilizing two approaches: qualitative and quantitative. The Qualitative approach is based on Differentiated Services (Diff-Serv) which is a reservationless model. Diff-Serv with up to 64 Per Hop Behaviors (PHB) may be segregated into a small number of service types by utilizing the Type of Service/Diff-Serv (ToS/DS) byte in an IP header. Priority mechanisms are utilized to provide QoS to packet traffic.
Integrated Services (Int-Serv) provides end to end QoS by reserving resources for data traffic. Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) signaling is a protocol that reserves resources so as to provide the required QoS. QoS requests are propagated to all routers along a data path allowing the network to configure itself to meet a desired level of service. Int-Serv is independent of the actual mechanism used to provide the reservations, but Int-Serv specifies, generically, traffic and path characteristics for a transmission. Currently, there are schemes being developed to interwork Diff-Serv and Int-Serv.
cdma2000 (3G Code Division Multiple Access) is a proposed standard for packet based communications on wireless networks. cdma2000 is a name identifying the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) IS-2000 standard and its future revisions for a third generation (3G) technology for a migration path that supports second generation networks and supports upgrade to 3G services for cellular and PCS operators. cdma2000 includes support for Direct Spread (DS) and Multi-Carrier (MC), for forward link only, frequency division duplex configuration, full support, for Packet and Circuit Data Services up to 2 Mbps, RLP support for all data rates up to 2 Mbps, Multiple Voice, Packet and Circuit Data services concurrently, Voice over Packet and all channel sizes (1xc3x97, 3xc3x97, 6xc3x97, 9xc3x97, 12xc3x97). Since many contracts for service are based on signal quality and bandwidth availability, customers that require high speed data transmission or broad bandwidth or even minimal (best effort) service, indicates that there is a need for quality of service measurements or standards.
One approach for supporting cdma2000 QoS is to maintain a single class of LAC/MAC (the current method) that provides procedures for handling various QoS requirements. However, with only one set of mechanisms to provide the bandwidth availability, etc., QoS flexibility would be limited. Efficiency is also affected with the need to switch between resource management systems when different QoS levels are required.
It would be desirable therefore, to provide a method and system that would support quantitative as well as qualitative QoS parameters in a wireless telecommunication network due to the use of an IP network, such as the Internet, for communication. It would also be desirable to classify wireless IP data traffic flow to a pre-defined CDMA QoS class. It would further be desirable to provide a method and system that would make available a plurality of defined QoS classes to a CDMA user.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a method and system for that would support quantitative as well as qualitative QoS parameters in a wireless telecommunication network.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and system to identify and apply an appropriate QoS class of service to wireless IP data traffic flow.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method and system that will provide multiple defined QoS classes for wide support on radio links in a CDMA communications system.
The foregoing objects are achieved as is now described. An adaptation sublayer is provided between LAC/MAC and a Packet Data Service Node for a CDMA telecommunication system. Quality of Service parameters are defined and stored within a Base Station and Base Transceiver Station along with subscriber profiles, including class of service. The profiles include specified Quality of Service requirements for each subscriber profile. A Quality of Service Adaptation Layer provides logic and control means to identify each active service from a subscriber, provide the associated Quality of Service and direct the active service""s communication connection to a target Packet Data Service Node.
The above as well as additional objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed written description.